Against the Lions, he finished with 33 disposals, and while the explosive outside run was still there, the 13 contested possessions and nine clearances jump off the stats sheet.

Only twice in Hall's 78-game career – the first 50 of which were spent as a small forward – has he had more contested possessions, and never has he had so many clearances.

You can't read too much into a pre-season hit-out against the lowly Lions, but Hall told AFL.com.au it was an area of his game he had put a lot of work into the past three months.

"Last year I didn't get too many first possessions," Hall said.

"As a midfielder, guys that get clearances and first possessions off the ruck tap, get three or four more possession per game and those clearance numbers are pivotal in the way games are won and lost.

"I've really looked at a lot of tape, asking questions, learning how to use my body.

"I found myself with Gary (Ablett), Michael Rischitelli and Dion (Prestia) to a lesser extent, were more seasoned inside, so I didn't really push my case forward to be the go-to or get that first possession.

"I know we've got to cut the slack for everybody and share the load and that was something I was able to implement on the weekend."